


all stars twinkle out

by Shinyshinx



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 2P, F/M, Nyotalia, russia in the past when they had tsars an shit, sometime not now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 21:17:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinyshinx/pseuds/Shinyshinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It saddens me, however, that even the prettiest stars twinkle out eventually.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	all stars twinkle out

**Author's Note:**

> 2p russia and nyo canada. otp babies. hope you like.

Nicholas Braginski isn’t sure why he’d come to his brother’s fancy-ass over glorified party in the first place.  
After all, he’d refused to bring any of the girls he knew; most of them were countries, anyway, and he despised the lot of them. His (massive amount of) sisters had all fled to join in on the dancing and spinning about, leaving him with his thoughts and to watch from the outside. It all seemed so...shallow. Women strutting around, trying to get someone’s attention-men with their hands flying against waists and wine glasses, laughing and swinging about, already lost in a drunken haze-it disgusts him. His lips curl into a frown as he watches the spinning feet from his spot in the corner. Empty, pathetic little creatures; even if Ivan got the role of the official representation of Russia, _and_ the spot of Great Tsar of Russia, Nicholas was glad he wasn’t human. He wouldn’t be able to bear the lack of intelligence.  
Hands on hips and lips on lips, a waltz around and a sudden dip. A fairly pretty girl breaks off from the ritual, heading towards him with a smile gracing her features. Nicholas remains apathetic as she asks him to dance and gives her a shake of his head in response. Pouting, the woman insists on his attention, muttering in Russian and running her hand down his arm. The big nation quickly grows annoyed-unlike his brother, he has a very short fuse. He snaps at her to leave him be, and, surprised and intimidated, she runs off, leaving Nick to wallow in his emotions until he was back to his state of disgust and relative peace.  
“Insolent little fuckers.” The murmur reaches no one else’s ears but his own, his voice a low growl against the roaring of the partygoers. It’s less of a party and more of a fancy dance; the ballroom was choked with people, each in a long dress or trimmed suit, a glass of wine in a hand and a twinkle in their eyes. Butlers weave among the people, handing out little treats as they went. Definitely not something Ivan could’ve come up with on his own. Nick doesn’t see the point of this party; Ivan was the only Tsar to ever make such a big deal out of his position. It wasn’t like this was anything new, after all. In a couple hundred years he could just change his name and take the position over again.  
Sighing a bit, Nicholas lets his eyes wander over the various people filing into the ballroom. Hm, is that Francis? He isn’t really surprised to see the Frenchman with some human girl hanging on his arm. While he watches, Francis gently kisses the girl’s cheek and says something to her before disappearing into the crowd. Hm. Nick lets his eyes fall on the girl; her hair is pulled back in pigtails, and she’s very pretty, with a round face and cute glasses on her nose. Her orange dress looks like autumn, little fabric maple leaves stitched into the fabric to look like they were falling down, down as she walked. She looked a bit lost without Francis with her. Her deep blue eyes flitted over the ballroom over and over again, seeking out her date maybe, or just taking in the environment.  
Then she met Nicholas’s eyes.  
Nicholas feels himself jolt out of his staring and quickly looks away, cursing himself for getting caught. Looking at the floor to help wash away some of the embarrassment, he doesn’t notice the girl again until she’s standing right next to him, tapping his arm gently. “Hello there.” He jumps back and hits the wall for the second time now. Her voice was so quiet, he almost thought she hadn’t spoken. “Oh--er--Hello.” Clearing his throat in an effort to recover, he straightens and blinks once down at her. She really is pretty. For a human. “You need something?” Maybe she didn’t realize he was staring at her. Right.  
“Oh! Not really….you just looked a bit lonely, is all.” Poor thing’s wispy voice’s nearly impossible to detect. She still looks pretty lost, her eyes glancing up to meet his briefly before shooting down to her hands again. “I came here with someone, but he kinda just….disappeared….so I thought I might come and talk to you. My name is Madeline, but Maddie’s fine too. Do you mind me asking your name?” She looks so awkward standing there, wringing her hands and looking around for her supposed lover.  
“...Nicholas.” The big Russian answers hesitantly, looking her over. He can feel his short fuse being lit once again; how dare Francis just leave this poor girl by herself, at a _party_? His disgust fills him and makes him scowl. The girl jumped a bit, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, Nicholas, did I say something…?...” Damnit. He growls a little in frustration, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, no, you didn’t do anything. I’m just….not the best at talking to people.” He sighs through his nose and runs a hand through his hair before apologizing once more. “It’s just, Francis shouldn’t have just run off and left you like that. As soon as I get my hands on that royal fucking-” Whoops, he said Francis’s name. Look what you did, Nicholas. Roll over and dig your own grave right now, why don’t you.  
However, Maddie’s eyes lit up at the mention of the Frenchman. “You know Francis?” Nick nodded slowly. “Da. He’s an….acquaintance of mine. I assume he invited you as your chauffeur?” Maddie nodded, smiling a bit. “Yeah! He asked me if I wanted to go, and he was really sweet about it, and I was really excited and got all dressed up for it, because people don’t really usually, erm, notice me, and…...he left. As soon as we got here.” Her excitement faded as she ended the sentence, sighing. “...I suppose it was too good to be true, huh?” She laughed, voice cracking a bit as she did so. This poor girl. This poor, poor girl. She’s obviously heartbroken. Nicholas feels his temper flare again, but fights to keep it contained and not scare her.  
“Francis….just doesn’t realize what he had. Once he gets it through that wine-fogged skull of his that you’re the kindest person I’ve ever actually taken a liking to, he’ll come speeding back to you for sure.” Whoops. Unfortunately for Nicholas, once you got through the initial ‘eep he’s scary’ impression, he was really bad at hiding his emotions. Ivan could do so perfectly; he could just mask it all behind a smile. But Nicholas was incredibly and surprisingly sensitive. He tried to hide what he was thinking, but it always came out to be obvious, so he just gave up. It made him look like an idiot the majority of the time.  
But Madeline smiles at the compliment, her cheeks turning bright red. “That’s...very sweet of you, Nicholas.” Her nose crinkles adorably before she hesitantly asks, “Um, is it okay to call you Nick?” Getting a deep nod in response, the smallish girl smiles again, this time a bright one that showed off her dimples. She glances around the room one last time before inwardly letting out a sigh. Yeah. Francis had ditched her. She isn’t really surprised; she was just so _forgettable._ She gives Nicholas a quick look over, again. He was kind of sweet….unlike Francis, it seemed. Although she’s upset, she wouldn’t mind spending the night talking to him. If he wanted to. Clearing her throat, she stands up a little taller and looks at Nick. “Hey…..since Francis ran off to god knows where….would you like to be my escort instead?” The sentence finishes on a meek note as Madeline lost her sudden confidence, looking back down at her twiddling fingers. “I mean, only if you want to, I could just go find him again, if you want to be by yourself.”  
Now, _here’s_ a surprise. Nicholas blinks once, twice, taking several moments to process the request. Someone actually didn’t think he was awful? Hm. After a long, somewhat awkward pause, he hesitantly nods again, clearing his throat. “I believe I would enjoy that.” Madeline’s face lights up as she smiles once more. “Really? Thank you. I like talking to you...You’re kind.” She wrings her fingers, looking at her hands shyly as she says this. Nicholas feels his face heat up, and offers her his arm without comment. After moment of hesitation, Maddie’s small hand takes the presented arm, allowing Nick to lead her around the other dancers and towards the door. “I hope you don’t mind, I’d like to step outside. It’s getting claustrophobic in here.” He clears his throat and pauses a moment. “I..could show you the grounds. If you’d like. I like going out and wandering through them sometimes if I have trouble sleeping.”  
Madeline answers with a small smile, glad to have a bit of information about the man escorting her outside. “It is a bit hot in here...I’d be alright with that, Nicholas.” The awkward shell surrounding the two was starting to break, and by the time they’d strolled around the garden once, it was gone. Maddie happily held tight to Nicholas’s arm and talked about her life back in France, her two brothers and her stepbrother, how she’d worked on her dress with a lot of help from her mother. Nick was fine with listening; it made him smile, just a little, to hear the happy note in her voice. They only paused their stroll when she jumped up and walked along the walls surrounding the petite bushes and sunflower gardens, holding onto Nicholas’s hand for balance.  
“Try not to fall, alright?” The big russian told her gently, walking along side her as she hopped down the length of the wall. Madeline only grinned at him. “If I fall, I’ll be okay-I’ve got you here to catch me.” She was happy to hear a chuckle from Nick, if a little one, and jumped down to walk beside him once again, only this time leaving their hands locked together. She swung them back and forth and hummed as they walked, her bright blue eyes bright and happy. “It’s really pretty out tonight, hm?” She mused. “I love the stars. It’s nice to know the sky stays the same, even if you’re far away from home.” She sighed, letting their clasp hands fall back into place, no longer swinging them. She looked up at Nick, who in turn, gave her a tiny smile. “I like the stars as well...they’re far away, detached from things. I can relate to them.” He looked up at the sky as he spoke.  
“....It saddens me, however, that even the prettiest stars twinkle out eventually.” Nicholas sighs softly, giving Madeline a long look. He could feel his heart thump out of time when he looked at her; feel his fingers tingle, his face heat up when she took his hand, notice it hard to find the right words to say around her. He’d gotten attached to her too quickly. All humans twinkle out. There’s no stopping it. Madeline was a once in a lifetime deal; she would be gone in the blink of an eye. And Nick hated it. Maddie’s eyebrows crease as she thinks over this statement-she is about to say something too, it seems, but the chiming of the bells, signaling the end of the dance, drown her out. Her eyes widen in surprise before growing sad. “Well…..it looks like the ball is over…...would you, um, come visit me tomorrow..?..I’m just down the street, in the little hotel on the corner.” She blinks, stands up on her tiptoes, and plants a big kiss on Nicholas’s cheek, who, in turn, nearly falls over in shock. “I have to leave….I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? Goodbye..!..”  
And with a final look, she let go of his hands, lowered her feet, and turned, walking away, looking back over her shoulder at him as she did so. Nicholas lets his hand brush over his tingling cheek, eyes wide. There went his star, twinkling out, leaving.

He doesn’t go visit her the next day. Instead, he punches Francis and breaks his nose for leaving her stranded.

Nicholas had never expected to see Madeline again.  
The memory of their shared night dances in his mind constantly, the feelings, the pounding of his loose and crooked heart and pressure of her lips on his cheek-he never stops thinking about that night. The memory is faded, but still there, and he doesn’t let it go, doesn’t let it leave like everything else. He clings to the thoughts as they go flying through his head. The only thing he allows to fade is the hope that he would see her, that they would dance, spend their nights on spinning feet underneath a canvas of sky. He lets the hope dwindle and fade as each day goes by, soon to be months, soon to be years, soon to be decades. He doesn’t let false hope catch him and fling him about; only misses her with each tick of the clock. He loves her, knows that now. He wishes and whines, remembers and contemplates.  
But he doesn’t expect to see her.  
And yet, so many years later, he does.  
She walks into a world meeting, hand in hand with two brothers; Matthew and Matt, he learns later on. She’s a tiny little thing. A child. Her hair is pulled back into pigtails, and her face is as round and freckled as he remembers, only on a miniature scale. Her expression is frightened, shy, as she hides behind Francis’ legs, releases her brother’s sticky palms for his pants leg, while he gently tries to soothe her and Matthew out from hiding. The other boy, with brown hair and a scowl, waves a hockey stick around threateningly at the other countries, his voice barely a nervous squeak. She hides her face, then looks around, once, twice-  
Then she met Nicholas’s eyes.  
Nicholas can only stare in silent shock at the tiny girl, the girl he loved, adored. Her deep blue eyes pull him in, and he can only stare into them, his own red ones wide, his jaw hanging open just a little. She seems curious-not frightened, unlike her brothers. She finally lets go of Francis to toddle in his direction, nearly tripping over her pigtails, making her way over to Nicholas. And still Nick stares. Stares and stares until she finally bumps into his leg, looks up at him with wise, wise eyes, and he knows, knows what happened-  
With a loud choked nose, Nicholas Braginski fell out of his chair, glanced back at her over and over, stood up, scrambled up, ignored everyone’s confused cries, and ran. Ran out of the World Meeting, ran outside, ran ran ran until when he closed his eyes, he couldn’t see her face anymore. She’d died. She’d died. She’d died.  
She’d come back as a new country.  
As he pants, as he shakes his head, looks back the way he came, he feels it, sparking in his chest. His star wasn’t gone. It had faded and returned, as bright as ever. He feels it in his crooked, pounding, wounded heart.  
Hope.


End file.
